The Spitting Image

When my father died, it was just a week before my seventh Christmas.  Some of the things which belonged to him became like treasures to a young boy who missed out on so much.  There was a spinning reel, a Air Force flight jacket, a .22 pump action rifle, and an assortment of other things which I could hold in my hands.  But, the one thing I came to treasure the most were those moments when some aunt or uncle would look me and say, "Boy, you are the spitting image of your Daddy!"  Nothing made me want to stand taller and nothing made me prouder than hearing those words from those who knew him.

 

In my reading from Hebrews I found a word which seemed to be saying that Jesus was the spitting image of His Father.  It is found in the early verses of the first chapter and says, "He (Jesus) is....the exact imprint of God's very being..."  (Hebrews 1:3)  While nothing about these words suggests that Jesus' physical appearance was a duplication of the appearance of God, it does say a word to us that Jesus bore the divine DNA.  This phrase, "God's very being" points toward the indescribable, undefinable, yet, very real essence of God.  Whatever it is about the Holy Creator that speaks of the essence of His being was poured out in great abundance in the One known as Son of God.

 

It is, of course, impossible to give God a face.  There is no one to whom He can be compared.  He is full of such glory that the sun seems like a distant star; yet, He is also Spirit.  He is the One who can be described by a thousand adjectives, yet, He is impossible to see and know as we see and know others around us.  As we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us in such a way as to create within us the heart of Christ, we begin to catch glimpses of "God's very being."